Create a Car (or really, a vehicle :)

Another custom order that's turned into something I'll carry regularly in my shop!  This set is along the same lines as many of my other do-it-yourself sets, and this time the theme is vehicles.  If I were still teaching, I would love to see what kind of crazy combinations the kids would come up with by mixing the various vehicle parts together...  

This set is great for color and number naming and recognition, and could easily be used in a group time by handing out the pieces and letting the kids come up and decide where their piece could go!  You could also ask things like "If you have a red piece that is BIG, come put it on the board...or..If you have an orange piece that is small, come put it on the board."  You could play a color sorting game, and just have them bring their pieces to a designated area of the board, not building anything, or you could decide as a group that you want to build four vehicles--you could build the bases and then ask them to come put the wheels, windows, and other accessories on.  What a great team work project that builds vocabulary at the same time.  I love these sets as both a group time activity and for kids to use on their own...

Discover Flannel Friday--and join in if you like to make flannel boards, too!

Here's the Tumbler Page if you'd like to check it out, and here are the many amazing Pinterest Boards!

And hey--feel free to check out my shop right here:  Flannel Board Fun

Toddler Bots

Why have I been ignoring my littlest friends?  Most of the sets I provide for the kids in my classroom are for age three and up, not only because of the size of the pieces, but also the quantity of pieces and complexity of the sets.  Enter my Toddler Build a Bot set!

These guys are no longer available for sale, but lots more are waiting for you right here! 

(By the way, I've done a similar set, with a lot more and smaller pieces for kids three and up--find my regular Build a Bots here.

Teachers, put these fellows out in your fine motor area or your book corner along with some individual flannel boards.  Librarians, these would be great on a felt table or large felt wall.

Librarians and teachers, these would be great to use during a story time!  Put your bases on the board, and then hand out the accessories to the kids, naming the colors and shapes as you go.  Then announce "Let's build some robots together!  If you have a yellow shape, come up and put it on one of the robots..."  Continue this way until you have what will surely be some extraordinary bots :)  This is a great way to build color and shape recognition, and to build vocabulary as you use words like dial, gear, antennae...

Here are some robot books to go along with the theme:

Little Bot and Sparrow by Jake Parker

Bitty Bot by Tim McCanna

The Robot and the Bluebird by David Lucas

Robots Robots Everywhere by Sue Fliess

Beep! Beep! Go to Sleep! by Todd Tarpley

...and some more goodies:

The Lights on the Robot (to the tune of The Wheels on the Bus)

The lights on the robot blink on and off, on and off, on and off.

The lights on the robot blink on and off, as he moves around!

(Continue with more verses:  arms/up and down,

Dials/turn left and right,

Legs/go up and down,

Power on the robot powers down/when it’s time for bed!)

If You’re a Robot and You Know It

If you’re a robot and you know it clank your coils (clap)

If you’re a robot and you know it clank your coils (clap)

If you’re a robot and you know it and you really want to show it clank your coils (clap)

Continue with: “Clunk your gears” (stomp feet), and “Press your buttons” (“Beep beep”)

Jessica is hosting the roundup this week.  You can also find tons of ideas at Flannel Friday's Pinterest Pages, the Flannel Friday Blog, and Flannel Friday's Facebook page.  

And hey, feel free to stop by my shop for more felt goodies: 

Flannel Board Fun :)

Imagination Station

I was a preschool teacher for about 25 years, and in that time I learned so much about preschoolers.  I think one of my most valuable lessons is that children learn best through play.  They are most motivated to stay engaged with something that they have chosen themselves, and that they are interested in; something that they get to start and end when they are ready to do so.

  

I'm a member of several preschool Facebook groups, and I see a lot of questions about how to teach children colors, shapes, numbers, and letters.  As with most things, my answer is "through play".  I could go on and on about this, but instead I'll share this felt set!  

Plugging my shop!  This set and many more are available there :)

Using a set like this is a perfect way for children to learn colors, shapes, and sizes.  It lends itself to building imagination; fine motor skills; and math concepts like sorting and patterning.  But the best part about it is that's it's open-ended fun! 

"Teach" about colors and shapes and sizes as you read awesome books like Lemons are Not Red or Round is a Mooncake, and as you do chants like This is Big --and of course as you interact naturally but intentionally with the children in your care as they play!

 

Amy is hosting the roundup this week.  You can also find tons of ideas at Flannel Friday's Pinterest Pages, the Flannel Friday Blog, and Flannel Friday's Facebook page.

Build a Bug Set

Bugs gross me out.  So, I needed to neutralize them for this set.  In other words, make them pretty and rather unrealistic.  I guess I'm doing a disservice to the children in my classroom by doing this, but I see it done in a lot of books too, so I'm just going with the flow :) 

Click here to buy this set!

In my classroom, I have individual flannel boards for the children to use on their laps, on the floor, or at a table.  That's where I'll have these buggies available.  I might also incorporate them into a small group time and let the children help me build some bugs on the big board.  Lots of great opportunities for vocabulary and imagination building with this set!

If you're a librarian, you could make these available at a felt table after a bug, spring, or garden story time.

Flannel Friday is being hosted by  Bridget at What is Bridget Reading this week.  For more FF fun and information, please visit the blog, Facebook page, or Pinerest page!  And share these links with your co-librarians or co-teachers. The more we share, the better!

Build a Bot Set

I don't know what it is, but more and more of my kids are talking about robots lately.  I really don't have much of anything robot-related in my classroom, so I thought I'd start building up my robotics department a bit!  I'm starting with a DIY Set for the kids to use themselves. I've got lots of this type of set available in my shop!

 There are a LOT of pieces in this set.  I'll most likely start off by making only about half of the pieces available to the children.  Once I see how they do with that, I'll add more as needed.

These would also be great to put out in your library on a felt table, especially if you've just done a space or robot story time.  Here are some book ideas to go along with these metallic friends:

Robots Robots Everywhere by Sue Fliess

Beep! Beep! Go to Sleep! by Todd Tarpley

Boy + Bot by Ame Dyckman
Doug Unplugged by Dan Yaccarino
Junkyard by Mike Austin
Robots, Everywhere by Denny Hebson
Sometimes I Forget You’re a Robot by Sam Brown

Hello Robots by Staake
Ribbit Rabbit by Ryan
The Three Little Aliens and the Big Bad Robot by Margaret McNamara
The Birthday Box by Patricelli

Flannel Friday is being hosted this week by  Jessica at Storytime in the Stacks.  For more FF fun and information, please visit the blog, Facebook page, or Pinterest page.  And share these links with your co-librarians or co-teachers. The more we share, the better!

Valentine Cookies

It has been so fun watching the kids in my classroom play with my felts sets over the past year.  I love hearing them sing songs and repeat rhymes we've used during our group times. And I also love letting them just play creatively to their hearts' content.

I saw a whole lot of that creative play in December as they used my Christmas Cookies and Gingerbread sets, so I decided to make a Valentines Cookie set as well.  I think this one will be especially fun for them, as they love sorting by size and color as they play, and all these different sizes and colors of hearts lend themselves perfectly to that.  Plus:  sprinkles!

These lovelies are sold out, but I've got lots of other holiday fun for sale right here!

Set these up on a table after a storytime about cookies, love, or Valentines Day!  Here are some books and songs that go along nicely with this set...

Mouse’s First Valentine by Lauren Thompson
Plant a Kiss by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
Sweethearts by Jan Carr

The Biggest Kiss by Joanna Walsh and Judi Abbot

Will You Be My Friend by Nancy Tafuri

Mr. Cookie Baker by Monica Wellington

My Heart is Like a Zoo by Michael Hall

How about a Kiss for Me? By Todd Tarpley

           

Heart

I put my hands together,

This is how I start

I curve my fingers right around,

And I can make a heart!

Down Around the Corner

Down around the corner in the bakery shop
Are five Valentine cookies with sprinkles on top
Along comes ______ with a dollar to pay
S/he buys a cookie and takes it away!
(Continue with four, three, two, and one!)

Making Cookies

I am making cookie dough.

Round and round the beaters go.

Add some flour from a cup,

Stir and stir the batter up!

Roll them, cut them, nice and neat.

Put them on a cookie sheet.

Bake them, count them, 1-2-3--

Serve them to my friends for tea!

Flannel Friday is being hosted this week by Kathryn at Fun with Friends at Storytime.  You can find lots of other great stuff at Flannel Friday's Facebook and Pinterest pages, too!

Valentines and Envelopes

More fun, creative, pretend play!  I loved the envelopes I made last year, and was inspired to make some that the children could handle themselves.  My new set is machine stitched, and they close with a little piece of velcro.  I think the kids will love pretending to mail each other their cards--I plan to put these out near our toy mailbox, which generally sees a lot of mini stuffed animals shoved inside, rather than mail :)

(These cuties are sold out, but I've got lots of other holiday fun in my shop!)

Here are some books, rhymes and songs that would be great for a Valentines, mail, or love story time:

Mouse’s First Valentine by Lauren Thompson
I Kissed the Baby by Mary Murphy

Bunny Mail by Rosemary Wells

The Jolly Postman by Allan Ahlberg

Delivering Your Mail by Ann Owen

You Know What I Love by Lorena Siminovich

The Secret by Lindsay Barrett George      

Early In the Morning
Early in the morning at eight o’clock
You can hear the postman knock
Up jumps ______ to open the door
One letter, two letters, three letters, four!

Four Pretty Valentines

Four pretty valentines for everyone to see.
___________ bought one and then there were three.
Three pretty valentines said, "I love you"
___________ bought one and then there were two.
Two pretty valentines, this was so much fun.
___________ bought one and then there was one.
One pretty valentine sitting on the shelf.
I liked it a lot! So, I bought it for myself.

Mail Myself ToYou by Woody Guthrie

I'm gonna wrap myself in paper,
I'm gonna dab myself with glue,
Stick some stamps on top of my forehead;
I'm gonna mail myself to you.

I'm a gonna tie me up in a red string,
I'm gonna tie blue ribbons too,
I'm gonna climb up in my mail box;
I'm gonna mail myself to you.

When you see me in your mail box,
Cut the string and let me out;
Wash the glue off my fingers,
Stick some bubble gum in my mouth!

Flannel Friday is being hosted this week by Kathryn at Fun with Friends at Storytime.  You can find lots of other great stuff at Flannel Friday's Facebook and Pinterest pages, too!

Hanukkah Set

We don't really read a lot of Hanukkah or Christmas books in my classroom.  Most of the books I've found that focus on those topics aren't really great in terms of quality literature.  However, we do sing several Hanukkah songs, play with dreidels, and make latkes.  We do similar Christmassy stuff, and I have a few Christmas sets for the children to play with.  But as far as Hanukkah goes, we had nothing in felt.  

So, now we do:

This set could be used on a felt table for individual use after a Hanukkah story time.  

It could also be used just to help aid in having a conversation about Hanukkah.  

You could pass out candles and flames and have the children come up and "light" the candles!  

They can come up and put a latke in the frying pan to cook!

They can frost the sufganyot, and put the cherries on top!  

You can talk about the symbols on the dreidels, pass them out, and see if they can remember what their symbol means (bring me your dreidel if you have the symbol that means "take all").

This set is for sale.  Come visit my shop!.

Flannel Friday is being hosted this week by me!  You'll find the Roundup here.  Please also check out the Flannel Friday Blog, Facebook, and Pinterest pages, which will give you tons of information and gazillions of ideas to spruce up your story times :)

Make a Jack-O-Lantern

This is a super simple idea that can be used on a table at home, in a classroom or library; with individual flannel boards; or as a group participation activity to go along with Halloween themed stories.  Cute, fun, and sugar free Halloween fun!

For a group time, or at home with your own kids, you could pass out the various pieces and ask children to come up and help you build the faces.  Think about all the shape and color naming and recognition that will happen as you say "If you have a yellow circle, bring it up to the board!"  "If you have a shape that has three sides, bring it on up!"  

Build even more math skills with this set by having the children help you sort all the black shapes onto one section of the board; all the yellow onto another...  Count how many round shapes you have.  Count how many corners there are...  The possibilities are pretty endless!

Here are some possible Halloween stories to go along with this set:

If You’re a Monster and You Know It by Ed Emberly

Where’s My Mummy by Carolyn Crimi

Pumpkin Eye by Denise Fleming

Big Pumpkin by Erica Silverman 

Frankenstein by Rick Walton       

One, Two…Boo! By Kristen Dempken

Pumpkin Trouble by Jan Thomas

These cuties are sold out, but you can find lots of other holiday felt goodies right here!

Flannel Friday's Halloween Extravaganza is being hosted by Lisa at Thrive After Three!

You can find many more ideas on Pinterest, and learn more about Flannel Friday on Facebook or the FF blog!

Ocean Set Update

I posted my original Ocean Set here several months ago, but decided to add a shark and a tuna fish so that it could also be used to perform Slippery Fish.

There are actually SO many songs you can use with this set. Circle time fun for all your fish loving friends :)  ( Click here to see some videos of them! )

If you buy this set, I include a list of ocean-themed book titles to go along with it, and the lyrics to several ocean rhymes and songs that work with these cuties.

 I have switched to using wool-blend felt, so I re-did the whole set last weekend, and I'll be bringing it in and using it in my classroom this coming week.  The kids have been playing with my Construction Set for the past few weeks, and I'm looking forward to seeing how they use this set...

Want fun tidbits for preschool teachers, librarians, 

or anyone with young kids in their life?

Flannel Friday is being hosted by your's truly this week--the roundup is here.

You can find many more ideas on Pinterest, and learn more about Flannel Friday on Facebook or the FF blog!

Construction Set

I have a little friend in my class...perhaps a day has gone by during which he hasn't mentioned diggers, but I don't think so.  Let's just say he likes diggers.  A lot.  A whole lot!  And lately he's been spending time in the Book Corner using the flannel board sets we have there.  I decided it was about time we had a set of felt construction workers and vehicles, and why not throw in a few cones and piles of dirt?  Let the wild rumpus start!

Librarians!  These would work nicely to have out for children's independent use after a construction story time. Maybe you'd read Diggers Go by Steve Light, or Demolition by Sally Sutton.  And there's always Tip Tip Dig Dig by Emma Garcia... So many good books to read on this topic!  I'd probably go ahead and sing TRUCK (or here) and maybe play Little Duck Little Duck, are you in the ________ Truck to round things out :)  And here's a link to some construction-themed rhymes and finger plays.

I realized after I finished gluing on the hats that I forgot to make female workers!  I'm going to see if I can dismantle one of those guys and stick some braids on...

This set is available at at my shop--please come browse around!

Flannel Friday is being hosted this week by Laura at Library LaLaLand  Check out the round up there, and don't forget to find more amazing flannel board ideas at Pinterest and Facebook and the Flannel Friday Blog!

Christmas Trees

Who says Christmas has to wait till December?  The kids in my classroom have been decorating Gingerbread Houses all summer!  I have a feeling they'll enjoy decorating these trees just as much.  Librarians, don't discount these--I picture them at a table in your children's section after a story time about winter--alongside a felt board of dreidels, menorahs and gelt perhaps! (Coming soon to a blog near you...)

With all the different shapes and colors, there's just so much patterning, counting and sorting to be done!  

I put my CuttleBug to good use with the decorations--I've been using wool blend felt, and even the thinnest dies cut right through it with no problem.  This was great news--I was so disappointed that the thin dies wouldn't cut acrylic felt.  One more reason to switch to wool blend. It is a bit more expensive, but I really love the quality and the colors are amazing.

This set is sold out in my shop, but lots of other holiday sets are available!

Flannel Friday is being hosted this week by Laura at Library LaLaLand  Check out the round up there, and don't forget to find more amazing flannel board ideas at Pinterest and Facebook and the Flannel Friday Blog!

Dessert Set

This is the last in a series of sets I'm making for my preschool's vendor fair next week.  Everything in this set comes apart, other than the stems from the cherries.  So great for building fine motor skills, with the added bonus of imaginative play, early math like color naming and counting scoops....  

Here's a super simple way to use this set to build all kinds of early math language, too.

Here's a video of one of the rhymes included with this set:

Flannel Friday is being hosted this week by Cate at Storytiming.  You can also find tons of ideas at Flannel Friday's Pinterest Pages, the Flannel Friday Blog, and Flannel Friday's Facebook page.

Felt Doll Set

Here's another set I made to sell at my upcoming vendor fair.  This is definitely one I'll also keep available for the kids to use independently.  I know lots of story telling, vocabulary building, and conversations will happen while this one is in use. 

These remind me so much of the paper dolls I used to love as a child, but they're so much easier to use.  I can't wait to bring this out, and I'm sure I'll add more clothes and accessories every now and then.

This set is available in my shop!